Phil Prendergast (Labour)

I join colleagues on this side in asking the Minister to explain the reason the Government did not target the very wealthy and those who avail of tax breaks, including property based tax reliefs, when it had an opportunity to do so. The Labour Party identified more than €400 million in savings which could be achieved by tackling these reliefs. Those availing of reliefs were not touched in the budget.

The Government learned through its focus groups that it would be unwise to attack older people because they tend to vote. The exception was blind older people.

I am horrified that carers, who provide 3 million hours of work per week, have had their payments cut. Representatives of carers appeared before the Joint Committee on Health and Children. A further meeting held in a nearby hotel was attended by many members of all parties. Those present heard cogent arguments for not cutting the carer's allowance. I visit carers who look after highly dependent relatives three or four times per week. Many of them lead awful, nightmarish lives and cannot understand what has been done to them.

The decision to cut child benefit by 10% has created a new poverty trap. I met a number of women in Ardfinnan and Fethard last week who are considering whether it is worthwhile to continue working. While €16 per month may not appear to be much, it will make a great difference to those who live on tight margins. The three women with whom I spoke will decide whether to become social welfare recipients. These are genuine cases. I have met people in these circumstances at my clinics. They will do the sums by setting their outgoings on child care and so forth against their income. Every week, 20 cars travel in from Ardfinnan because people cannot avail of the bus service, which is not full, yet a member of the Green Party is Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government.

The Labour Party pre-budget submission clearly set out how to achieve the savings required in the budget but the Government refused to listen. Will the Minister explain the reason it was fine for rich people not to make a contribution when those in receipt of child benefit and social welfare payments, including blind people, the disabled and carers, were targeted in the budget?

I have been at meetings with carers' representatives which were attended by Members from all sides. We listened to their stories, watched videos and so forth. These individuals go to considerable trouble to travel to Dublin to inform Members about the difficult position in which they find themselves. They must work 24 hours per day, seven days per week. I am at a loss, therefore, when I listen to Senator Butler's remarks. I cannot understand the type of hypocrisy he has shown.

Opposition parties made genuine proposals for securing the €4 billion in savings we all agreed were required. The Minister indicated that the carer's allowance was the last item she wanted to cut. That cannot be the case when a large number of rich people were not touched by the budget. The pay cuts imposed in the budget are unjust and unfair. For example, the Minister for Finance and the person cleaning his office have taken the same pay cut of 5%. The budget has made the social divide much worse.

Will the Minister explain the reason the Government supported wealthy people who have a range of tax breaks available to them and can legitimately avoid paying tax by availing of loopholes? Those who can afford to put away several million euro in pension pots have been left alone. Why did the Government decide to target a group of people who are already suffering disadvantage?

On the economics of the cuts, if the three women I met last week choose to give up work, stay at home and avail of social welfare, it will cost €60,000 to support them. It will no longer be worthwhile for them to remain in employment given increasing child care and fuel costs. I have heard optimistic voices say they will get over Christmas. In January, when the cuts impact, the weather is colder and everything is dearer and appears more bleak, rates of illness, depression and suicide will increase, as will the number of children requiring psychological and psychiatric services, and people will be afraid to visit their general practitioner or hospital for cost reasons or because they fear contracting swine flu, MRSA or clostridium difficile. People are becoming more frightened and increasingly angry. I have never experienced anything like the reaction to this budget. People are withering.